WEST SIDE STORY: Alec Baldwin has checked out a $12.5 million Dakota co-op that was previously listed at $24 million. Photo: wireimage

Will Alec Baldwin soon be changing the name of his production company from El Dorado Pictures to Dakota Pictures?

The bloviating “30 Rock” actor wants to sell his co-op in the Eldorado on Central Park West — and he might be trading one legendary Upper West Side building for another. Baldwin’s Eldorado apartment, which has just been listed at $8.9 million, is a four-bedroom, 4½-bath Art Deco spread with 12-foot ceilings, an eat-in kitchen, two maids’ rooms and two maids’ bathrooms. It also includes a separate, smaller apartment that could work as a home office or gym.

Baldwin, often spotted in the area talking on his cellphone at the outdoor patio of French patisserie Georgia’s and sweating it out at nearby Equinox, has swung by the Dakota twice recently to check out a four-bedroom, four-bath co-op that’s listed at $12.5 million. The apartment has had three price cuts since being listed for $24 million in June 2008.

All in a day’s York

After walking away from a $7 million deposit and spending about $6.5 million in construction and design costs on more than $25 million worth of combined apartments at One York, Michael Hirtenstein is getting a much better deal to buy most of these condos back.

Instead of spending more than $25 million for six units that totaled nearly 11,000 square feet, the real estate fanatic and former NYP Home cover boy will now pay about $16.5 million for five units that total about 9,000 square feet. And his original $7 million deposit is being applied to this purchase, meaning Hirtenstein didn’t really lose that money at all. The condos are on the sixth, seventh and eighth floors of the 32-unit building by starchitect Enrique Norten.

The residence also comes with nearly 6,000 square feet of outdoor space, including a swimming pool. Sources say there’s just a year or so left of construction that will cost a few million more. We’re told Hirtenstein is reassessing earlier projected costs. He no longer thinks, for example, that spending a cool million on lighting is such a bright idea.

For now, The Hirt will stay at 25 Bond St., where he is renting a four-bedroom triplex.

Versace heir’s fashionable deal

Young man about town Antonio Versace — nephew of the late Gianni Versace and a partial heir to the Versace fashion empire — has just bought a new bachelor pad at 44 Mercer St. in SoHo.

The two-bedroom, two-bath condo boasts 12-foot ceilings, a gas fireplace and a terrace. The asking price was $2.7 million, but we hear that the apartment closed for a little less. The eight-story building is across the street from Babeland, the upscale sex-toy shop.

Versace’s broker, Jaf Glazer, at Conquest Advisors, could not be reached for comment.

The Welch way

It looks like Jack Welch is spreading out. The former chairman and CEO of General Electric is buying a three-bedroom condo right next door to a pad he already owns on the 46th floor of One Beacon Court, Welch’s new 2,669-foot unit had an asking price of $8.995 million. According to records discovered by The Post’s Lois Weiss, the contract was signed last month, with a closing to occur on or around Oct. 1.

Welch bought his current apartment — another three-bedroom unit — for $6.25 million back in 2005, after he divorced his second wife, Jane Beasley and married former Harvard Business Review editor Suzy Wetlaufer (now Suzy Welch).

The seller is a trust owned by David Cohen of Indian Asset Management in Westport, Conn.

Meanwhile, Beasley has their former 3,663-square-foot pad at Trump International Hotel & Tower listed for $28.8 million.

Holtz is a high flyer

Luxury travel company owner Michael Holtz is in negotiations to buy a six-story townhouse at 400 West St., which still has the $25 million asking price first revealed in this column. The 7,000-square-foot home, which has no elevator and its entrance on the West Side Highway, is around the corner from the five apartments Holtz owns in two Richard Meier towers. (Four are at 165 Charles St., while the fifth is at 173 Perry St.)

Holtz, who owns Smart Flyer, has had success flipping apartments in the past — most notably, he made a quick $4 million by selling a 15 Central Park West unit just two months after he bought it. Holtz also sold a Park Imperial pad to hip-hop mogul Sean Combs.

Holtz currently lives in an 1,800-square-foot glassy bachelor pad at 165 Charles St., and this townhouse would be a big change. While it is currently owned and was designed in a family-friendly way by Cortney and Bob Novogratz (who have seven kids), the spot, which includes a basketball court, could be perfect for flashy bashes. Last week, it was the site of a poker party hosted by Meatpacking District honcho David Rabin, with food prepared by Abe & Arthur’s chef Franklin Becker. Listing brokers Wendy Maitland and Susan Green of Brown Harris Stevens had no comment.

Upstate department

Could Claire Danes be taking her so-called life upstate?

The former “My So-Called Life” star/Yale dropout and her actor fiance, Hugh Dancy, have been spotted house-hunting in Columbia County, a few hours outside the city, by the picturesque Hudson River Valley.

In addition to visiting upscale upstate digs, the couple was seen hanging out at a restaurant on Main Street in Chatham, NY.